Chipotle Pumpkin Soup with Chicken & Barley

What better way to make my blogging return than by talking about my favorite topic: food, at the kickoff to my favorite season: fall, with one of my favorite ingredients/spices: chipotle…?

I’ll answer: there is no better time.

Hiiiiii, glad to be back. I’ll keep it quick, because I want you guys to have enough time to go to the store tonight and snatch up all the ingredients so you’re ready to make this tomorrow.

I got it from an incredible blogger and influencer, Dr. Edie… I encourage you all to like her on Facebook and watch her live videos. I could listen to her for hours! And, we’re apart of the same Oily Family, so I feel like I’m sort of related to her, in a proud and slightly possessive way.

Here’s what you need (my unprofessional frantic-mom version):

Good butter… none of that margarine crap

Olive oil

An onion – small and sweet

A half-empty bag of carrot shreds because you forgot to grab carrots at the store

3 ribs of celery, diced

Garlic – I have minced garlic in my fridge always, because fresh garlic is sticky

2 boxes of good, high-quality chicken stock or broth

1 small can of pumpkin puree – NOT pumpkin pie mix. It’s important.

A rotisserie chicken. Have your hubby or eldest child chop up what you can off the bird (I hate touching poultry), but about 3 cups worth. If you want a vegetarian version, cube some russet potatoes!

1/2 cup barley

Dashes of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and honey

2-3 chipotle peppers, diced… keep the adobo.

1 cup sour cream

1/4 heavy cream

Salt and pepper

My quick version: sauté the diced onion, celery, carrots in butter and olive oil. Add garlic once the veggies are soft. Salt and pepper as you go – as I learned from Dr. Edie, as it’s important for depth of flavor.

Add the rest of the ingredients: stock, pumpkin puree, chicken, barley, all the spices – including the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Cook at medium/high heat until the barley is tender, turn down the heat to a slow simmer, and add the sour cream and heavy cream.

Taste and re-season – if its too spicy, add more honey. DO NOT OMIT CHIPOTLE PEPPERS, it makes the whole soup. Leftovers are amazing. We legit ate this for 3 days and I’m already planning to make it again this week.

If you want the original recipe, be sure to visit Dr. Edie’s blog! The recipe is here.